


Saving What We Love

by Ranchel



Series: What's Left Unsaid [4]
Category: Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Bendemption, Canon Compliant, Episode IX, F/M, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Rose Tico has no chill, ben solo is Soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 18:43:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18610318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ranchel/pseuds/Ranchel
Summary: He'd do anything to help Rey. Even opening up his heart to some rebel scum.





	Saving What We Love

**Author's Note:**

> Or The One where Rose Tico finally meets Ben Solo.
> 
> Big thanks to the sprinter girls from the Reylo Writing Den for their love and support.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

When Ben raised his head from the electronic lock of his door cell he was met with the image of a small but furious woman, dressed in the characteristic yellow suit of the mechanic corps and pointing what looked like a taser right at his chest.

_5ft 2. Recklessly fierce. Doesn’t fear me. This must be Rose._

“I’m talking to you, asshole,” she said, approaching him slowly “Look, I know I can’t kill you, being Leia’s son and all that. But I sure as hell can stunt you to whatever place you creepy Siths go if you keep messing with that lock”

_Definitely Rose Tico._

“It’s not what you think. I’m trying to help,” he summoned his calmest most assertive tone, fully aware that the wrong words could land him unconscious on the floor. “Where is Rey?”

“What so you can backstab her like you did last time?” a muscle under Ben’s left eye twitched, his lips nervously pressed together as if chewing on air.

_Don’t throw a fit. Assertiveness._

“Why do you think I surrendered? To help you build your unrealistic regime of peace and dance with you in a field of flowers? There’s a bigger threat now, and it’s coming for her!” As if to emphasize his words, a loud blast echoed upstairs making the lights flicker.

* * *

 

_Weeks ago, while waiting for the inevitable betrayal of the High Command, he’d felt it. On the Beyond the ghost of the late Emperor had risen, looking for vengeance on the Skywalker and for a new apprentice._

_This time the path to take had been clear. His escape from the Finalizer hadn’t been hasty enough to avoid almost getting killed by a, surely, furious Hux who had, once again, lost his opportunity to kill him. He’d made it to Tatooine, despite everything; and had surrendered, arms raised above his head, to an equally enraged and confused Rey._

_And all of it to help her, to save her. Because after being a victim all of his life he wouldn’t let any puny Sith Lord to prey on Rey’s light._

* * *

 

Rose’s hard stare didn’t waver. Instead, she approached him, raising her chin defiantly and managing to look more threatening, quite the feat considering their difference in stature.

“Look, I understand, you managed to convince your mother and even Rey that you could be reformed and you think you can do the same with me. Think again, asshole.” The small woman finished her speech by tilting up the end of her taser to point it directly at his throat.

For the first time since he arrived at the base, Ben sincerely regretted keeping up his Kylo Ren persona around Rey’s friends. His alter ego was good to hide his childhood insecurities, but right now he didn’t need the impassivity of Kylo Ren. He needed the vulnerability of Ben Solo.

“Didn’t- didn’t Rey tell you about what happened-“

“In the _Supremacy_? Oh yes.” He averted his eyes from Rose’s disgusted expression, looking intently at the floor. “Not only that. I heard her crying every night for months… for you.” Those last words were pronounced like a whisper, hanging between them like a secret they both knew but weren’t brave enough to say out loud.

For a moment, all Ben could do was look at her with desperation. He tightly grabbed the bars of his cell to keep his hands from twitching nervously and stepped closer to them.

“I need to get out of here. I need to help her. _Please_ , get me out.”

A shadow of doubt crossed Rose’s face momentarily, softening her expression as her hold on the taser relaxed. Then she turned her back, stubbornly as if to avoid the effect of realizing that Kylo Ren was, in fact, a human being.

“My sister died fighting the First Order. I won’t jeopardize all that she worked for just so you can… what? Take Rey away from us? Lead her to the Dark?!” she turns to him once again, enraged.

“It’s not me you should be worried about!” Ben finally snapped, making the small woman step back, even if just a little. He sighed, resting his forehead against the bars before another explosion tore from him what sounded almost like a sob. “It was never like that with Rey. At least, it hasn’t been for a long time.”

Rose scoffed, crossing her arms.

“It’s up to you to believe me, but if you lost your sister in combat then you know the pain of having a close one taken from you without being able to help, to say goodbye.” Ben was seized by the image of Leia engulfed in the flames along the _Raddus’_ command bridge before he continued.  “I don’t care about the Resistance. I’m not even sure I can help you win the fight going on above. But if we’re all going to die today I don’t want to go without telling Rey…”

For a moment both of them seemed to hold their breaths in anticipation.

“Without telling her how much I love her.”

Finally looking at Rose eye to eye, he could almost see the conflict raging inside her. There was a deep emotional intelligence to this woman that was lacking in the rest of Rey’s companions.

“I don’t know if I can save her. But I have to try.”

Something changed in the small mechanic. With a resolved expression she hooked the taser to her belt before opening one of its pouches and pulling out what looked like an electronic key. Too focused on pondering his strategy once he came face to face with the Emperor, Ben missed Rose’s next words.

“What?”

“I said, that’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.”

The door of his cell opened with a small click.

* * *

 

Sweat dripped annoyingly down her nose as Rey stood up from her crouching position. Looking around she could see a couple of their ships had caught fire during the explosions, the pilots and mechanics too busy fighting the waves of Stormtroopers to extinguish them. At least the hangar hadn’t been completely decimated like the left wing of the base.

For her, it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep the new voice inside her head from tearing down her walls. When the pain seized her once again she couldn’t help but double over, pinching the bridge of her nose in an attempt to quiet the aggressive and dangerous whispers. Suddenly, a shadow loomed over her and the voice disappeared, recoiling like it had been burnt. Rey opened her eyes to see a red glow reflecting on the metal surface of the crate she’d been covering behind. She quickly turned around, coming face to face with a pair of pretty soulful eyes.

“What are you doing here?!”

“Saving what I love.”

Wide eyed, she watched as Ben Solo winked at her before calmly joining the fight.


End file.
